


Guard

by kala_lovesTobio



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Awkward Kageyama Tobio, Happy Ending, Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio Friendship, How Do I Tag, Kageyama Tobio Being an Idiot, Light Angst, M/M, My First AO3 Post, Royalty, Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi Friendship, Tsukishima Kei is Bad at Feelings, because i cant give these two an unhappy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27645791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kala_lovesTobio/pseuds/kala_lovesTobio
Summary: Kageyama is the prince of one of the largest territories in his country.One day he meets his new personal guard, an annoying blonde who can turn out to be... cute?
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kageyama Tobio & Tsukishima Kei, Kageyama Tobio/Tsukishima Kei, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Kudos: 47





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is my first fanfic in ao3, so sorry if there are any mistakes. English is not my first language, sorry if I cause eye cancer haha

"He is your new personal guard, Prince Tobio." The two in front the brunette bowed respectfully.

"Okay, thanks Oikawa-san, you know you can call me by my name, no respects are required"

"But prince..."

"I've told you many times, take it as an order please"

That prince was weird, think the blonde.

"It's okay, Tobio-chan" they shared a small smile. "You can go, Oikawa-san" the brunette made a reverence and left the couple alone in the minor's room.

Their gazes met.

The blonde was surprised, he had heard that Prince Kageyama was known for his self-centeredness and selfishness like his mother, but this seemed to be the opposite, although his face did not show any emotion. It seemed to be a few years younger than him.

"Hello, what's your name?" He managed to see a little curiosity in the other's blue eyes, which analyzed him with their gaze.

He was surprised again, since when was the monarchy so kind? He wouldn't believe it, that's how they used to be, they pretended to be kind but in the face of danger he would let him die quietly, in a few hours he could replace him, just like my brother, he thought bitterly.

"Tsukishima Kei, at your service, sir." He dropped to one knee.

"You don't have to bend over ... it bothers me." Since I was little I had developed a small hatred towards this act since everyone who saw did it, nobody ever spoke to him face to face unless he asked.

He frowned, that prince was kind despite being one of the most powerful on the continent. In the little they taught him in the guard school, they had taught him to respect the monarchy, and the way they behave; Why was this prince different?

He stopped obeying the order of the minor.

"I hope we get along well, I don't usually talk to many people other than Oikawa-san," he said looking at the floor a bit ashamed.

He didn't know what to answer, so he choose silence.

Time passed, more specifically they had been four months since he began his work as a personal guard for Prince Kageyama. He had realized that the crown demands a lot from all its members, the boy, who by the way was only a few months younger than him, had a demanding study schedule from morning to night. In all this time he discovered his strange love for milk, his mania for caring for his nails and her escapades to see his best friend, a castle servant named Hinata.

He discovered it one day in the middle of the week, the prince told him that he would go to the bathroom for a moment and he was waiting for him outside with his typical serious face. He realized that the blue-eyed one had already taken longer than normal, so he repeatedly knocked the bathroom's door, but he didn't get an answer.

"Prince? Are you okay?" When he didn't receive an answer, he got a little scared, but he didn't change his face. He thought about it for a few seconds, would it be bad if he entered?

His concern overcame him and, without further thought, he opened the door, getting even more concerned when he saw the small bathroom window open, there was no soul in the room. He thought of all the possibilities, a kidnapping? No, he would have heard screams or at least some sudden movement. Had the prince left by himself? He knew someone of small proportions would fit, so he quickly deduced that the prince would came out of the bathroom through that window. But, more importantly, for what reason?

He stopped thinking when he heard voices through the window.

"Shut up, idiot! Someone could hear us"

"B-but, do you really think your guard is cute? He seemed like an egocentric lamppost to me." He heard a shrill voice that held back his laugh.

_What?_

"S-shut up, idiot!" He heard another laugh.

He pushed the questions out of his head, he knew that that window led to a kitchen hallway that was very little crowded. Quickly he went to that corridor from which he knew the voices were coming, he tried not to make a noise to go unnoticed because, his inner curiosity made him feel the need to know who was the person with whom the king spoke so animatedly.

When he reached his destination, he found the blueberry sitting on the ground, unthinkable of a member of royalty, with a young red-haired man who was seen from afar to be somewhat shorter than the other. Kageyama smiled animatedly, looking attentively at the person next to him, that seemed to be telling him something. Tsukishima had never seen the prince smiling like that, he thought it was...cute?

He quickly put that thought out of his head, headed towards where the two friends were, without waiting for the blue-eyed reaction. As soon as he became aware of the presence of the taller one, his eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost, or worse. He turned to see worried at the redhead. When the shrimpy turned to look back, he could almost see the tears coming from his eyes, it seemed that they were going to send him to the gallows.

"Umm, prince?" He didn't understand the reaction of the boys, he felt out of place.

"Tsukishima..." he seemed to be thinking about something, the two of them had stood up "I-I was just... helping this servant who hurt his foot and can't walk properly, right?" He looked at him seriously, giving him the hint to play along.

"Oh, s-sure, I slipped with the bucket I was carrying"

"I don't see any bucket"

"Hinata idiot," the two shorter ones gulped and looked at each other, then looked at the guard at the same time.

"I don't understand, why are you so worried?" They looked at him incredulously, as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world

"We commoners cannot have any contact with royalty, if a high position finds out, they would send me to the gallows" he swallowed "and Kageyama will be-

"Shut up, idiot," the other stuck out his tongue. The prince's language surprised him, the monarchy shouldn't speak like that.

"I know I shouldn't ask you for favors but" he gave him a punished puppy look "can you keep it a secret? I don't have any more friends and I wouldn't want anything to happen to Hinata... if you want I can give you gold or whatever you want, but please don't tell anyone!" he looked really distressed.

"I'm not interested in riches" not even himself knew why he was still going on, somehow life had pushed him to where he was "and anyway, i was not going to tell anyone, you... i had never seen you smiling like that, so i guess it's ok.

The other two's eyes shone.

"Thank you light pole!" The shortest raised his arms smiling, while the youngest only looked at the floor slightly flushed, with a small smile.

_Had he done it for him?_

They were that same day in the ravenets's room, it was already night and they were getting ready to sleep, next to the room of the blue-eyed young man, separated by a dark wooden door, Tsukishima was thinking in his room. Was it okay to hide that? No. He would do it? Yes. And he really didn't want to think about the reason for his decision.

He heard a knock on the door.

"Can i pass?"

"Sure, prince" the door opened, revealing a part of the other's body.

"I already told you that you can call me Kageyama." He frowned slightly.

_Cute._

What was he thinking? Spending so much time with the prince was getting to him.

"Are you the future king of one of the most powerful nations in the entire continent and do you want to not influence respect for your commoners?" The other blushed, probably from embarrassment.

"Trying to be nice isn't bad!" He was embarrassed, the other only raised an eyebrow, curious about the other's reaction. Teasing him and seeing his reactions had become one of his favorite hobbies. It's not like he can do much anyway.

"That will not serve to impose order, prince," he said with a sarcastic tone, he really liked to see the reactions he caused in the other.

"S-shut up" he fully entered in the room "I just came to thank you for today, I really appreciate it, if it had been someone else, Hinata would have done badly, so I will never stop thanking him" he bowed.

"I didn't know that the monarchy knew how to be grateful for something, much less bow down"

"Sometimes I don't understand how you can be so stupid." He had really pissed him off, but he found out a little late "And showing respect was one of my first lessons!"

"I don't understand your attempts of kindness."

"I'm just trying to make friends! I feel lonely in this place, everyone has too much respect for me, only Hinata and Oikawa-san have been the only ones I have been able to consider friends, and I can't even know if they are real or just talk to me for obligation." He hadn't finished "I also have to put up with my stupid father! I would rather kill myself and be born again as someone normal if I could" The prince had started to cry. He felt regret in his chest, he wanted to see the other's reactions but he never wanted to get there. The blond also realized that deep down it hurt him that he didn't mention the guard on her "friends" list.

"Prince..." he approached the shorter one who had his hands on his face and trembled slightly "I... I'm sorry I shouldn't have taken him that far" he thought for a few seconds but in the end he decided to take the minor between your arms. Another thing that was not expected was that the child returned the hug and cried even louder.

He didn't know how but, he had ended up with Tobio lying on his bed, he was watching him, the boy was in a corner curled up. Trying to protect himself, the blond thought. He was sleepy, but the prince was in his bed, would it be bad to sleep with him? It is not like he had another place to sleep so in the end he lay back on his invaded bed, turning his back to the other and leaving a considerable space. Tomorrow he would worry about the consequences of that.

Before going to sleep, he silently promised the person next to him that he would protect the blue-eyed boy from the world, even if he had to give his life.

_"I do it because it's my job, right?"_ he thought. 

It was morning, thanks to all the activities of the prince, he had to get up first hour of the day. Thanks to the fact that the dark haired one was not very good at waking up, his faithful advisor and friend, Oikawa Tooru, would wake him up every morning so that he wouldn't be late.

Upon reaching the prince's room, he realized that he was not in his bed, it was not even unmade, indicating that it hadn't been used that night. He was a little concerned but thought that he might have gone off with his red-haired friend. But then who had made the bed? if the king had slept there, he would not have bothered to accommodate it, he was not even sure if he knew how to do it.

He noticed the bathroom, but nothing again. Now he did start to worry. He reasoned for a few moments, if something had happened to the future king, his guard would know, so with that thought he opened the door that led to the other room and saw a large lump on the bed.

He approached slowly, was the guard that big? And what was he hugging? When he reached the edge of the bed he saw something at least interesting. The prince and his commoner were sleeping together, he raised an eyebrow, too much close of each other. The blond encircled the other's hips with one of his arms while the other used it to reload his own head, and the younger one hugged him with one of his arms, and had one leg on top of him.

He raised an eyebrow, he didn't know what to do.

Wake them up would be very embarassing but, the prince had obligations to fulfill in the end, he left the room and knocked on the door repeatedly, waking them up.

Since that day, the counselor noticed how those two had gotten even closer.

The blonde had joined the volleyball practices that those two friends had, trying to stop the strong shots of the lowest in the huge gym of the castle. Tooru also saw them talking more often, noticing the prince more smiling than usual. Sometimes when they had free time, they would train together with their swords, obviously skill and height put the blond at a clear advantage, but the minor from time to time put him in trouble, they also used to have tea together, the guard had more manners of which it was seen at first sight.

Tsukishima, who always stayed in a corner of the luxurious room, stared at him in his private classes without noticing this. The younger got nervous when he felt the other's gaze on him.

The blonde found himself thinking about the prince in his limited free time, thinking about what he was doing or if he was with the redhead, if he was healthy or if he had eaten correctly. He mentally punch herself every time he thought of him, why did he think so much of the pathetic prince?

For his part, the prince felt that he could fully trust Tsukishima and that made him happy, he had made a new friend in that horrible palace, he was really happy. It was the first time in a long time that he felt that he could say everything to the person next to him and he would not let him, he really appreciated Tsukishima. He really liked spending time with him, good for him, they spent the whole day together. He hoped the feeling was reciprocal.

One day the guard understood why the prince hated his father so much. They were training together with their friend and servant, in one of their passes for the lowest, the blue-eyed one raised his arms a little more than normal and saw them, he saw bruises and many scars on the opponent's abdomen. He went blank, he didn't even try to stop the ball, he was in shock.

"Tsukishima?" The princewas call him "Are you okay?" He approached to see more closely the other, that was pale.

"Sorry, I remembered something. Can we continue?" The two friends looked confused.

"Sure, there's still half an hour left before I go to my classes with Oikawa-san"

It was already night, and the blonde still had doubts about what he saw, which he would obviously resolve. They were in the minor's room.

"Kage-" he cut himself, "Prince."

"Come on, you were about to call me by my last name," he made a pout that melted the other's heart.

_Why was he so cute?_

He had already normalized those thoughts about the other, so he kept talking.

"Do you remember that first time I found you talking to the shrimpy?" the other looked confused "Yes, why?"

"You promised you would reward me with something if I kept the secret, remember?" The minor thought the worst, had all their friendship been simply because of that? Was it another fake relationship in the end? What would Kei ask? The anxiety reached his chest.

"Y-yes"

"Okay, I want you to tell me something" the other looked confused, still with some fear, what did he want to know? He swallowed "W-what do you want to know?"

"When we trained, you raised your arms and I saw bruises, what or who did them to you?" Long ago the black-haired boy didn't see such a serious face in the blond.

Shit, that was something he didn't like to talk about.

"Umm, I don't know what you're talking about, you must have seen wrong" he laughed falsely, he really didn't like to talk about it "I have to go to sleep now, so I guess you have to go to your room, good night" The other grabbed his wrist, catching it.

"We've been together for a year now, I know you well enough to know that you're lying." That made the shorter man's heart beat fast.

"It's nothing important, seriously"

"Everything that hurts you is important to me," he thanked that there were only a few candles lighting them and his blush wouldn't be so noticeable. "Won't you tell me?"

"It's because... my father has quite... quirky ways? to educate" he said it more as a question than a statement.

"What do you mean?" He frowned.

"W-well," he was ashamed to say this in front of him, he didn't even know the reason for that feeling, did it make him look weak? "When I commit a lack of manners or make a mistake in my studies, he... he hits me, but he hasn't done it for a long time! Don't worry, now I always take care to not make a mistake" the blonde didn't believe it, who did that to his own son? They weren't simple blows, they were scars that were probably painful "the bruises ... those are recent, who did them to you?" He worried again.

"Oh" he smiled remembering why "that day my father called you and Hinata and i were alone, it occurred to him to make a run to his room and on the way we stumbled on the stairs" he laughed remembering what happened " that hurt a lot but it was a funny experience.

The guardian just looked at him expectantly, was he really 17 years old?

"If I had been there I would have stopped your father" he muttered angrily.

"They would have kill you"

"You know I would do it anyway."

"I deserve a pay to do your favor!"

"You know that doesn't work that way, right?"

"I don't care." He looked at the blond with a smile.

"Fine" he sighed. "What do you want, your majesty?" He frowned.

"First, that you stop calling me like that light pole, second, can I sleep with you?

The sparkle in his eyes didn't let him deny her the want

.

His feelings exploded four months later.

They had gone out to a neighbor kingdom to sign some peace accords, the way back was quite long. Tobio and his guard were in one of the carriages that carried the nobles back to their lands.

The blonde had a bad feeling.

"Tsukishima? Are you okay? You haven't stopped frowning" it was just the two of them inside, so it could be dealt with normally.

"I have a bad feeling" the other looked at him strangely "I feel that something bad will happen."

"Calm down, this is one of the safest parts of the road." The boy grabbed his hand with a slight blush, in an attempt of support. "Yes, maybe it's just me."

They talked a few more minutes of trivial things, more the blue-eyed than the blonde. He still feel that bad feeling. Suddenly, he saw a flash out of the corner of his eye, he quickly reacted and grabbed the prince's arm, pulling him towards himself.

A second later an arrow pierced the carriage door, where the prince's head was.

"Tch!" A mine was on the ground, overturning the carriage. He acted before even thinking about it, he helped the prince out of the carriage, exiting himself too.

He tried to cover him with his body, his armor made him a little more imposing. A dozen of mercenaries appeared in front of them, he backed into a tree, locking the prince between him and the tree. He looked around, the other carriages with guards had already been destroyed, he saw some bodies with faces that he had once seen in the corridors of the castle.

_Pathetic_

"What, is the prince afraid?"

"Think about it, how much money would they give us for a virgin prince on the black market?" That made the guardian angry, he analyzed the situation, their territory should be directly behind them, perhaps he could stop them for a few minutes, giving Tobio time to run to a safe place.

"Prince, when I say three, you're going to run backwards as fast as you can," he whispered, still looking ahead.

"Eh? But and you-"

"One..." The blonde ignored him" promise me you'll come back

"Two..."

"Say it!"

"Three..."

He ran, leaving tears, before he left he heard a little "I promise" that made him smile, he trusted him.

He managed to reach the guards who where near there where they welcomed him quickly, explained the situation trying to calm down, asking them to help his in secret, best friend. They sent several guards to control the situation, he had been taken to the castle and treated well, the prince had injured his arm and made some scrapes when his carriage overturned, but with the adrenaline of the moment he hadn't noticed.

They told him to rest, but he couldn't, a single thought flooded his head.

_"You'll be fine?"_

It was early morning, he hadn't been able to sleep.

Prince Tobio saw a carriage arrive at the castle, he quickly went down to the entrance, hoping to see his dear friend. When they were taking the people out of the carriage he saw many bodies, asking some god not to see the beautiful blond and curly hair of his guard. The last one to come down, there, on a gurney stained with blood, saw him, his eyes were closed with a frown, he was pale. His first reaction was to approach quickly, he felt that he could not breathe; everyone was looking at him strangely, what was the prince doing there?

"H-he... Is he-okay?" He asked one of the guards who lowered him from the carriage, the castle doctors had taken the stretcher away as soon as he arrived, preventing him from seeing him for more than a few seconds.

"Prince," he knelt down, making the mentioned uncomfortable. "The guard Tsukishima is very badly injured" he fell like a bucket of cold water."The doctors quickly took him to the castle's operating room, sir."

"Thank you"

He went to his room, processing the information.

He didn't sleep much that night.

It was already morning, he got out of bed an hour earlier than normal. He ran to the rooms where the sick were, ignoring the strange looks of the people around him.

"Knight Tsukishima"

It was written on one of the doors of the dozens of rooms in that corridor, they make it easier to locate the wounded and sick people. He appreciated it.

He entered without knocking, the view was not the best he could ask for, but at least he was breathing. Kei was lying in the bed, with his eyes closed and a face that showed tiredness. Fear ran through him from head to toe, what if he no longer woke up? He put those thoughts out of his head and walked over to his side; he took one of her cold, pale hands and held it between his.

When his eyes kept coming out tear after tear he realized how much he loved him.

Three days passed, three tortuous days in which the prince thought about his guard every second that passed.  
What would he do if he didn't wake up?  
He was his best friend, they had been living together for more than a year seeing the other every day, and to make it worse, Oikawa, his friend who had taken care of him since day one, always went to see his new partner, his father's counselor named Iwaizumi. This left him alone for longer during the day, but he couldn't blame them, he didn't want to remove the happy face that those two had for the simple whim of not being alone. He also had Hinata, but the red-haired boy also have works to do.

On the third day, in the last hours of the day, when the sun was losing to the moon and its last orange hues stood out in the vast sky, he entered the room.

And there he was, sitting looking at the window. He had bandages on most of his chest, and one on his head. He was looking at the sky, not noticing Tobio, who was looking at him with wet eyes.

When Tsukishima hear a moan he quickly moved his head to the door of his room.

"Prince?" Kageyama looked at him smiling through his tears.

"Tsu-tsukishima..."

Without fully controlling his actions, he ran to the blonde and hugged him, receiving a groan from the surprise and pain of his injuries.

"Majesty... it hurts," he separated worriedly

"Sorry! How are you? When you wake up? Does it hurt a lot? Are you sure you..."

The blonde looked at the concerned blueberry with a small smile. He thought of everything that had happened and that if he died protecting him at least he wanted to have fulfilled his deepest wish.

Let hell swallow him, he would take the risk.

He grabbed the sleeve of the blue-eyed young man's fine clothing and drew him to himself, bringing their lips together.

At first the prince was left blank, unable to process or realize what was happening. After a couple of seconds, although he didn't know how to do it, he closed his eyes and respond that surprising kiss. It was just a simple touch of lips, but still they both felt like they had been waiting a lifetime for that. When they separated, the blonde could see a huge blush on the other's face that reached his ears, and very possibly went down to his back. He wanted to find out for himself. The dark-haired one closed and opened his mouth repeatedly, his blue eyes wide.

"Majesty..." He didn't know how to express myself in words "I realized that at any moment one of us could die, so... I wanted to do it before that happened."

Since that day their relationship changed remarkably, but only for the eyes of those who knew them perfectly; his advisor noticed him more cheerful and there was an unusual sparkle in his eyes every time he spoke with that guard, and he mentioned the blonde more in their conversations without realizing it, Hinata had also noticed it but, his blue-eyed friend trust enough to tell him about her relationship with the blonde.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Oikawa, it was just that he was part of the aristocracy and these people are usually very and attached to his ideals and works so he was not sure if he would keep the secret, although he was pretty sure that he already knew it but he simply decided not to say anything about it.

"Tomorrow you will meet your fiancee"

He knew that moment would come, he knew it since he understood all that royalty stuff and the weight on his shoulders, but that didn't mean that he was prepared to hear those words. He wanted to shout it, he wanted to say and express in all possible ways that he already had with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life, he already had someone who he loved and who loved him back and also who wanted to reign with him by his side.

"Yes father"

He started talking about her, about the power of his kingdom, about how pretty she was or that she probably knew more languages than his brain could one day procesed. He did not talk about his interests, his goals, or his hobbies.

_Because that doesn't really matter,_ he told himself.

With wet eyes he ran to his room, hoping he would not meet anyone. But of course, luck was not on his side.

"Prince"

He was the person he wanted to see least and most at the same time.

"Kei..." he bit his lips, he didn't want to show what a mess of feelings he was.

"I heard about your marriage" how could he keep that impassive face?"

"We can convince the servants to help us e-escape, or go at night to-"

"No" Tsukishima's eyes began to wet, "you are the future king and this nation needs you, you are a very good leader and I trust that you will be the best king ever seen, I don't want nor can take that away" his voice started to cut, he cleared his throat "sorry but this ends here, prince" he almost trotted out of the hall.

What?

He had...? Had he lost Kei?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happen after Kei left Tobio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy, i finish the second chapter, hope you enjoy it.

It had been almost half a year since Kei left him.

He had gotten engaged to a very cheerful, somewhat short blonde woman, they had arranged things quite well although they hadn't done anything as a couple yet. Tobio would describe their relationship more as friends or brothers, but there would never really be an interest beyond the friendly one between the two. Then there was the detail that the black-haired boy was not very interested in women.

At first he tried to talk to the blonde about their relationship, but in all these attempts he ignored him. They kept seeing each other every day because in the end he was still his personal guard, but now he only watched him from the distance and never really tried to strike up a conversation. This made the blue-eyed one feel worse but at least he could see how the blonde was doing.

The day of his engagement was one of the worst of his life, if not the worst.

When he was standing there, in front of so many important and wealthy people, he couldn't help but feel bad, he felt the weight on his shoulders so heavy that it made him want to cry, that weight that he had been be able to carry with the help of a certain blond who always supported him on his training or boring classes on subjects that didn't really interest him. Now he no longer had it.

That blonde was looking at him right now, as he agreed to join his life with a woman he had barely met two months ago, a few months after a certain guard broke his heart.

At least he was not the only one suffering, he perfectly saw the crystalline drops coming out of the blonde's eyes during the ceremony, he pretended that his watery eyes were for the happiness of the compromise that helped and gave much power to his territory. In the eyes of the peasants or people who didn't know about the monarchy, he was about to unite his future with the love of his life, when the truth is that he was at the back of the room, with a sad look.

The blonde was sitting in a small garden at the back of the castle.

He admired the thousands of stars in a amazing sky that reminded him of the beautiful orbs of a certain person. His hands brushed the grass he was sitting on.

he believed he could get over his love for tobio. He believed that he had the strength to put the future of an entire nation before his feelings.

He was clearly wrong, no one on earth could forget the bright of those blue eyes, how he pouted when he concentrated or see something that he didn't like, his way of expressing himself, his sometimes annoying attitude and there was also the shine of lust in his eyes in the most private situations or his unusual attachment to milk, which made him much cuter in Kei's eyes.

He cut the chain of thoughts knowing it would only affect him. Sometimes he blamed the world, if only the two of them were normal people, peasants without much to do in their lives, maybe they could be happy together.

But he knew that imagining didn't help at all.

His thoughts were stopped by an annoying voice.

"Saltyshima"

He turned in the direction of the voice, finding the second half of Tobio.

"I can't stand it anymore! It's obvious that you still love each other, why don't you tell him?"

The blonde stayed static in her place, Hinata was that stupid? Anger ran through her body, did he think it was so easy? That it had been easy to arrive and tell the most important person in his life that they couldn't be together?

"Do you think it's easy?" Somehow he managed to control the anger he felt, he stood up and faced the lowest one, straightening up to be at his full height and silently threatening the other "You don't know anything about what happened or my reasons for doing it, so I ask you to get involved in problems where they call you" He finished with one of his false smiles that didn't match the scathing tone of his comment.

"It's as easy as telling Kageyama you love him and that's it! You are the first person in his life with whom he had understood so much and you ended up leaving him! If Yachi worries you, I've already talked to her, she didn't want that marriage either.

"Why do you think it's easy !? you're so stupid? You don't know what it's like to have the king of your territory against you, if he knows, he could kill us!, you don't know what it's like to have to decide between Tobio or his future as king. I'm just an obstacle in his way. He is destined to rule with someone of his level, I should never have gotten into his life."

He didn't notice when his voice started to break. The redhead stared at him.

"Try it"

"What?"

"The two love each other, that's enough, even if you two have everything against, why not try? You don't know the future, but maybe if the two of you try hard enough you can be together, you won't always be taking care of him from afar."

Shit, the dwarf was right. He hated how he acted like Tobio, they were both simpletons, but sometimes being simpleton was not so bad.

"Tsk, mind your own business"

He left the other there, and although he tried to deny it, they were both aware that he had made the blonde think.

He thought that that talk would stay in the background of his mind but it wasn't. Every time he had a free moment his consciousness returned to that night. Maybe the stupid Shrimpy was right, he should try. He still didn't have the necessary realization but at least he had the idea in his mind, he just had to overcome all the insecurities he had. Only that. Then there was the decision of the blueberry boy, Hinata said that he still loved him, but the blonde was aware that he had hurt him and that he probably no longer wanted anything with him. His chest contracted at the thought of that possibility, but in the end he knew that he would have to respect the decision the other made, since he was the one who ended their contact after all.

Certain freckled boy, a castle chef named Yamaguchi had approached him in recent months and he also advised the same, if someone as intellectual as the green haired boy said that, then the redhead was right in the end. He liked talking to him, he was quite calm and much smarter than the stupid duo, with the plus that it distracted him from thinking about a certain pair of blue eyes.

It had been three weeks since Hinata spoke to him.

Her mind had cleared a lot, he believed that he already had the conviction to speak to the crow, so he decided it would be when they returned from his next trip. Tomorrow they would go to a neighboring territory to make their commercial relations official and improve relations with each other, but for now he would leave it for the Kei of the future, at this moment he was in an uncomfortable training with the prince.

It was morning, before the sun even rose, they had to start their journey because the border where the territory they had to go was the farthest from the castle, and the faster they improved their political relationship, the faster things would improve, after the war a few years ago, when he and Tobio were barely kids.  
This trip was the first of the prince without his father, since he wanted him to learn about international relations.

He put his thoughts out of his head and concentrated on what he was doing, carrying some boxes towards the carriages, he assumed they were gifts from the king for the governor of the foreign lands.

Oikawa-san was the one who looked after Tobio while he was gone, and he felt stupid for being jealous. But if he thought about it, the brown hair man was a better option than him, they were all better than him. He never considered himself someone with any value as a person, without a family and without having anything really important to take care of, he enlisted in the guard of his country. A few years before, if someone told him that he would have a relationship with the prince of his country, he would laugh so loud, he didn't understand how someone as perfect as Kageyama noticed him.

He came out of his thoughts when they called him back to the prince's side. He left the box he was carrying in the hands of a servant and trotted up to the side of a certain pair of blue eyes, reminding himself to keep his composure.

They were in front of the carriage in which they would go to their destination.

"Kei... umm sorry, Tsukishima."

His heart beat like crazy when he heard the pretty voice of the prince saying his name, the change to his last name hurt a bit.

"Yes your Majesty?"

The other grimaced at the call, despite having spent several months with it, he still not get used to the tense formality around the two.

"If something happens, please don't die." Kageyama still wasn't over the last time he was hurt, the blonde supposed. A small feeling of hope came to his mind, Tobio was still worrying about him.

He bit her lower lip, thinking of a good answer, he couldn't really promise him anything, after all his job was to give his life to protect him if necessary.

"Okay"

And so they returned to that silence that they both wanted so much to fill.

They were already halfway through their long journey, the two of them were in a somewhat awkward silence, Yachi, Tobio's fiancee was in another carriage with his own personal guard due to some nobility security issues.

To say that he was nervous was few, he felt the urge to talk to the prince about his feelings here and now, but his fear of the answer was still greater, stopping him from speaking.

There was also the bad feeling he had, since he was little he had felt a pressure in his chest moments before something bad happened, like when his brother died. He put those thoughts out of his head and continued to watch out the window for any danger.

They were about to reach the wall that separated the two territories when they were abruptly stopped by an abandoned caravan on the road. With a frown, the blonde got out of the carriage and went out to see what happened.

When he arrived with the guard who was inspecting the transport, he could see some military green circles on the bottom, next to a front wheel. 

He went to get a closer look at the artifact, his heart starting to pound when he realized what it was.

_Shit._

It was a landmine attached to the trailer.

He quickly straightened up and trotted over to the other guard, warning him of what he had found. He knew that was on purpose, he guessed the explosive had some remote control because he didn't see any countdown on the device. But he also knew that they could have killed him right then and there if they wanted to. He felt the concern settle in his chest. He didn't know what to do. For now taking care of the prince and his fiancee was the main task to be done.

In the end he decided to reunite the couple in a caravan that had previously been inspected. Meanwhile, he worried about looking for more dangers around the road they were on, they were in the middle of a huge forest, making it even easier to hide a weapon or danger.

When he was inspecting a weedy tree, the sound of a small explosion and screams reached his ears. He quickly went in the direction of the noise, finding one of his carriages on fire and some guards doing their formation around other, protecting the couple inside the vehicles.

His nerves raised the hairs on his arms, and trying to do something useful he looked around to see where the enemy was. He saw a few armed men in front of the guards who were forming around the carriage where the couple were. He frowned, he would have to fight.

Ten minutes later, he was between the caravan and the carriage, a spear piercing his stomach.  
The prince had wanted to fight with him, claiming that he was not a stupid child who didn't know how to defend himself and that the blonde couldn't handle all of them alone, since most of the guards died in the first explosion and having the highest position at the time, he ordered the others to load the royal couple into a carriage and take them to safety. He knew that the blueberry-eyed one was good at fencing, he had been practicing it since he was a child. But it was only for desperate cases, it was too important to hurt himself.

He fight while glancing at the black-haired man every so often, which was doing quite well. In a while the two of them had finished most of them, while Yachi left there.  
When there were only two of the unknown men left, he became a little confident and stopped looking at the raven so often. When he finished with the second man he straightened up and sighed, thinking that Tobio had done the same. He was wrong.  
He saw how the prince slipped with a puddle of mud when he took a step back and fell backwards towards the floor, he would have laughed if it weren't for the spear that was approaching him.  
His mind realized that he wouldn't be able to take out his sword and avoid the punch, so his legs unconsciously moved and he launched himself towards the spear.

Returning to the present, Kei turned down, seeing his hurt stomach. He actually had a spear through it. He watched as some drops of blood came out of the wound, he began to feel a burning in the damaged part and a stabbing pain.  
He frowned at the fatigue that went to his bones, now he felt really cold, at what moment did air began to flow?  
The last thing he saw was Kageyama getting up and stabbing his thin sword into the other man's throat as exhaustion caused his eyes to slowly close.  
He was carried away by the darkness.

Seeing Tsukishima stand in front of him receiving the hit that was for himself left him frozen, he managed to observe from his place on the ground a small part of the tip of the spear coming out of the blonde's back, and see how his knees fail, dropping him to his right side.

He quickly stood up and attacked the man, he assumed he was a beginner since he froze from hurting another human so much. Luckily he was already prepared. He never knew why people cared so much about killing another being, he never felt anything special, sometimes he thought that was weird, or simply others exaggerated.

When he killed the man he turned back, seeing the blond lying on his right side, with his eyes closed. And there the realization hit him, his guardian had a spear in his stomach.  
He panicked, would Kei die?  
He put those thoughts aside and approached the blonde to see how badly he was hurt. When he got to his side, he crouched down and tried to see a little of the taller man's wound; It was not the most pleasant thing I had seen, blood spurts were coming from the corners of the wound, the skin around it was reddish, it was a fairly clean wound so it really only hurt that area.

He ripped off a piece of his shirt and began to press around it, not noticing the drops coming out of his eyes or his hands shaking.

He prayed for someone to show up, no matter who but who could help. He began to scream desperately for help, seeing blood pour out of the blond's mouth. He tried to think of a way to move from there, if he left Kei just to seek help he would most likely bleed to death, although what he was doing wasn't helping much either, he thought he had never seen so much blood coming out of someone.

The other thing was to try to take the highest with him, but how? He couldn't carry it due to the spear making space and he did not want to move it much for fear of worsening the wound and causing more pain to the blond, anyway he didn't know if he could with the weight of it.

Those were his two options, and both didn't help him situation much.

A part of his brain was accepting the future death of the blond, but he continued to deny that, he couldn't die like this, he hadn'tt managed to talk to him about his feelings.

He was a bit scared when he saw the blonde's eyes half open.

"Tsukishima! Help will come soon, d-don't worry

The blonde gave him a small smile. "Your face doesn't say the same thing, Tobio."

He spoke slowly, feeling the metallic taste of blood.

"S-shut up stupid, you're going to be fine, y-you have to be fine, w-we haven't talked, so focus and don't close your eyes ... p-please

The blonde felt something warm in his chest when he saw the concern of the prince, but it was a bit overshadowed by the feeling of concern for himself, he had never thought that he would die that way, well, he died saving the prince so he had fulfilled his objective right?

"Prince, I-I think-"

"Don't speak!"

"I love you..."

He was even more concerned when his head started to hurt as he looked at the side face of the concerned brunette trying to cut off the flow of blood. He let his body relax, accepting his fate. He allowed the darkness to finish closing his eyes, the prince's screams were heard farther and farther.

Tsukishima had closed his eyes, had he died? Had he just passed out? He started shaking even more. It couldn't end like this, they hadn't even said goodbye! But more importantly, what had he just said? He ignored the small blush that he felt appear on her cheeks, now wasn't the time for sentimentality.

His hope increased a bit when he heard some horses nearby, praying again that it would be someone who could help them. Now that a few moments had passed he could feel a terrible pain in his shoulder, shadowing his recent hope. He tried to ignore it but he couldn't, he manage to bite his lip trying to focus more on that little pain.

When he felt footsteps near him he looked up and realized that some people had approached. Taking a good look at them, he observed the color of their uniforms, white and purple, _people of Shiratorizawa,_ he thought.

He wanted to cry due to the beautiful sensation he felt, the bad thing about this was that the adrenaline possibly left his body, giving way to the pain and fatigue of his bones. Everything went dark.

He was at the entrance of his castle in Shiratorizawa, one of Karasuno's neighboring territories, the visitors he was expecting at that time. He was thinking that he wanted to see Tobio, the prince and he had known each other since they were children, since the age difference was only 2 years, they had gotten along quite well. The two were quiet and a bit socially awkward, so they fit well enough to be very good friends; although with all the obligations the two of them had they only communicated by letters. The raven considered him something like an older brother so he was already informed of the whole situation with the blond guard. He couldn't wait to give him a big comforting hug.

"Prince Ushijima! They informed us that Prince Kageyama has been intercepted by some group, we believe it was the Johzenji mafia, did we escort you there?"

He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows due to the information he received. "Sure, please."

He quickly headed towards the part of the road where they had supposedly been intercepted, the closer he got the more he smelled of burning and he became even more concerned for his dear friend.

When he arrived, he couldn't help but feel a sour taste in his mouth, there was the brunette crying as he pressed a spear wound on the blonde. He had to wait a bit until he realized that they had arrived.

What scared him even more was seeing the other's blue eyes roll back, leaving the visible part of the socket completely white after giving a little sigh of what he assumed was relief.

He quickly gave the order to the doctors who had come with him to go to help the two foreigners, who seemed very badly injured. He sighed, deciding to go look around.

He opened his eyes slowly, blinking a few times to get used to the light in the room. He turned a little to both sides, noting that it was a white room, he look at the right side, a kind of vertical stick that held the serum that entered his body through a syringe connected to the back of his hand. On his left side were some bottles with what he assumed were medicines on a wooden table.

As he tried to sit up he moved his arms to lean back, realizing that he had a sling on his right arm. He frowned at this. In the end he was able to sit down only by putting his weight on one arm, thanking the numerous pillows on which he put his weight.

He sighed slowly, trying to remember how he got there.

Then he remembered everything.

His mind panicked as he realized what had happened, but luckily the door opened, revealing a pair of olive eyes with a worried look.

"Ushijima-san?"

"Tobio" The tallest showed the smallest hint of a smile "I'm glad you woke up, you had already been unconscious for a day and a half"

"And Tsukishima? How is it going?! He is okay?"

Wakatoshi smiled at his friend's concern, luckily he had good news.

"He's fine, they had to operate on him to get the spear out but luckily he resisted, he will probably wake up today or tomorrow"

Kageyama couldn't help but smile at this, they were really both fine.

"Thank you so much Ushijima-san, I'm sorry that things didn't turn out the way we expected"

Wakatoshi shook his head gently " It's nobody's fault... I guess you want to go see that blonde"

Blue eyes lit up.

"Yes please"

After that, the older one helped the other to get into a wheelchair, ignoring the other's replies, who claimed that he felt good enough to walk. On the way, the tallest one told him that the attackers had been a group of the Johzenji mafia wanting to bother a bit, he also told him that his fiancée had arrived safely at her destination.

After going through some corridors and greeting some guards, they stopped in front of a dark oak door, the brunette assumed that the blonde was there. Ushijima opened the door and placed him in front of the bed in the room, and then left saying that he would surely want some time alone and that he call him if he needed anything, he would be in charge of informing Tobio's father that his son was fine. .

After hearing the door close, he approached the blonde and grabbed one of his - even more than normal - pale hands. All this reminded him of the attack some time ago where the blond also sacrificed himself for him, but now he was much worse. He never imagined seeing his favorite person with a spear in his stomach.

He ignored that thought and concentrated on the person in front of him, looked at her blonde locks falling gently on her face and pillow, her cheeks a little pale and her thin lips that he missed kissing. He sighed heavily and tried to smile, at least they were both safe and all that horrible experience was over. Now he just had to wait for Kei to wake up, he hoped it would be in no time.

Analyzing his memories a bit, he could remember the last words of the blond before fainting, had he said that he loved him? He squeezed the hand he was holding a little more, he really had to wake up, they had a lot to talk about.

"Tobio-chan!"

"Oikawa-san?"

He turned quickly towards the door, seeing a brown hair that he would recognize anywhere. Oikawa had not gone on the trip as he had some business to do with Kageyama's father.

"W-what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here ?! I was with your father when they informed us that they had been intercepted and that you had been injured, I had to come to check that you were okay, but I see that it was more important to you to see someone than to inform me about your condition"

Tobio blushed at the comment, muttering some unintelligible excuse to the brunette.

"I'll stay here for a few days and come back with you, for now I'll go check some papers, call me if you need anything"

He received a nod in response.

He woke up with a great discomfort in the right part of his stomach, and a light blinding his eyes.

He groaned at the discomfort he felt after waking up.

Wait a moment.

Was he still alive?

That thought made him open his eyes quickly and look around, seeing a white room with a window, the source of the light that bothered him a few moments ago. Looking to his left, he thought he really was in heaven.

In a wheelchair, the prince of Karasuno was half asleep, somehow keeping his neck up, turned slightly to his left. His cheeks were a little flushed and little snores came from his half-parted lips. The light from the window reached him, accentuating his black hair and his long eyelashes that touched his slightly rosy cheeks making him look like an ethereal being.

How could he even think of cut his ties with him?

He was a little scared when he saw the youngest slowly open his eyes, wrinkling his face a little when he met the sun, as he had done./p>

"Kageyama"

"Mmh?"

The shorter one opened his eyes quickly as he realized where the voice was coming from.

"Tsukishima!" How do you feel? You're good? When did you wake up? Do you remember what happened?"

"Calm, your Majesty" he smiled a little "I think I'm fine, ignoring that I have the well of a spear in my stomach"

"How funny, good joke, stupid" his completely serious face complemented his sarcastic tone "I'll call a doctor, I'll back as soon as possible"

The youngest left in his wheelchair, leaving the blonde with his thoughts.

After a medical check-up and taking some medicines, the two young men were left alone in the room, with a slightly awkward silence.

The two were thinking about similar topics, the blonde for his part did not know how to start his conversation about the feelings of the two, while the brunette thought about how to bring out the words previously said by the taller one.

"Tsukishima"

"Prince"

The two looked at each other in surprise as they called at the same time.

"You first, Your Majesty"

"You first, four eyes"

"Majesty" he said in a severe tone.

"Tsukishima." His eyes met along with his frowns.

Soon, a laught followed that stupid conversation. The two of them smiled even more internally, they hadn't laughed together like that for months.

"Please, you first majesty"

The shorter one pouted at the formality with which he was treated. He shook his head a little, removing those thoughts from his mind.

"I... do you remember what you said before you passed out?"

The blonde looked at the floor and thought about it for a few seconds, his memories were a bit blurry and he didn't fully remember what had happened after seeing the spear in his abdomen. Until a moment came to mind.

_"I love you..."_

Remembering this, his cheeks quickly turned pink. He hadn't thought much about his words, he probably said them unconsciously, as a few seconds later he fainted.

"Yes... I remember"

Tobio's heart beat fast in his chest.

"Y-you... were you serious?"

Tsukishima closed her eyes and sighed, he supposed that now was the time to have the talk he had put off so long lately.

"Tobio I... I'm sorry" he raised his gaze to make eye contact with the man in front of him "I know that walking away wasn't the best decision, it's just that I was afraid of the future" now the two were playing with their fingers in a nervous habit "but I understood that if we are both willing to do it, there is nothing wrong with continuing with... with our relationship, of course if you want to too, I know I hurt you and I deeply apologize for that, but I promise that from now on, if you give me the chance, I'll try to make you as happy as I can, and I'll be there for you."

The brunette's heart skipped a beat when he heard the blond's little speech, in the end Tsukishima had been the one who had spoken about their relationship first. That made him really happy, he thought that the amber-eyed one no longer wanted him the same way. He couldn't help but smile.

The guard looked at the other silently, waiting for an answer.

Kageyama nodded his head "Y-yes, I-I, that would make me very happy, I really love you Kei, I'm glad that we finally talked"

A sense of calm came to the blond, he didn't know how he could have thought that Tobio no longer loved him.

After that afternoon, the prince and his guard stayed in the foreign territory for a while longer while their wounds healed. Tooru had left a few days later, as he needed to sort out some matters, although deep down everyone knew it was because he couldn't be away from a certain aggressive person for long.

In the end the little blonde, Yachi, had agreed with their relationship, saying that she supported love and that it was okay if Tobio was finally happy. And in the end she too had found a nice relationship with a freckled chef from the castle.

As long as her father didn't find out, everything would be fine.

Some years had passed since that conversation.

Tobio woke up to the sensation of a hand raising her bangs and lips on his forehead. He opened his eyes slowly, meeting amber eyes full of brightness and affection. He smiled at this.

"Good morning, king"

"Good morning Kei, I'm not the king yet"

"In a few hours you will be, so get up and change"

The blonde gave him a little kiss on the nose before leaving the room, leaving alone the brunette to change.  
He still felt the shadow of that kiss later, when they put a gold crown on his head, in front of the people of his land.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you see a mistake, i'm planning to do an alternative final in which Tsukishima dies, do you guys would like it?

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy reading this!


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